Harold Camping, a Christian fundamentalist who convinced an astounding number of people that the world was going to end on May 21, 2011, and was obviously wrong about that, and then predicted that the world was going to end on October 11, 2011, and was obviously wrong about that also, and previously had predicted that the world would end in 1994, and was wrong about that, too, has died at the age of 92 following a fall. During a phone interview on May 11, 2011, Daily Intelligencer tried to get Camping to admit that maybe the apocalypse wasn’t actually imminent. We failed:
If six o’clock rolls around and there are no major earthquakes, are you going to start to get worried?
It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. I don’t even think about those kind of issues. The Bible is not — God is not playing games. I don’t even want to think about that question at all. It is going to happen.You haven’t thought about what you’ll tell your followers on May 22 if the Rapture doesn’t take place?
I’m not even thinking about that at all. It. Is. Going. To. Happen. Because I trust the Bible implicitly, the Bible is God’s word — it’s not from a man, it’s not from an organization of some kind where there’s plenty of room for error. It is the word of God. When God speaks that it is going to happen, the Bible is a very factual book, and God gives many examples of how he has made prophesies and it always has happened in exact accord with what God has prophesied.….
I know you’re convinced this is going to happen, but if May 22 comes around and you’re still here, can we talk again?
I can’t even think about that question because you’re thinking that maybe, maybe Judgment Day will not happen. But it will happen, and I believe the Bible implicitly.
